"Disfellowshipping" versus "Disfellowshiping"

by Nick! 8 Replies latest jw friends

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  Nick!

  "Disfellowshipping" versus "disfellowshiping

  Both ways of spelling the word, the “single p” and the “double p” versions, seems to be correct.

  Looking up the word in the WT the 2010 LIB CD-ROM, I discovered that the Watchtower magazine used, up to December 1981, the “single p” (269 times) version but since July 1982, privileged the “double p” (231 times) version.

  Can anyone know, or at least guess, why they changed?

  Another strange fact, using Google search, is that the word seems to be used mainly within the Watchtower context than any other single one:

  - “single p” version: 10600 times, of which 6560 times in a Watchtower context

  - “double p” version: 91900 times, of which 68199 times in a Watchtower context

  Criterion used to isolate the “Watchtower context” in Google: “-Jehovah –Watchtower –JW”

  What motivated this change by the WT in 1982?
  Why only Jehovah’s Witnesses seem to be obsessed by this word?

  Roberto.

  P.S.
  For your info, my curiosity sparkled while I was translating an article on JW from Italian to English, and I had to make a choice between the two versions.
  I elected to use the "double p" version, which seems to be used mostly by the general public, and, since 1982, by the WT.
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  JeffT

  Two p's conforms to standard Engilsh spelling rules. My guess is somebody woke up to the fact that they were spelling it wrong.
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  blondie

  Sidepoint: In the 50's and 60's the CD shows the word "disfellowshipment" which I never heard until I was talking to Ray Franz one day. It is an LDS phrase for one which could have lead to it being replaced with disfellowshipping or disfellowshiping.

  Definition for disfellowshipment:

  A temporary sanction used within The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, more severe than formal probation but less severe than excommunication. More »

  en.wiktionary.org/wiki/disfellowshipment Source
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  hotspur

  No matter how you spell it - it will always remain a pretty unchristian thing to do!
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  Mad Sweeney

  Jeff is probably right. It probably took until the early '80s before someone literate enough rose high enough in the ranks to make the change.
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  wobble

  They made up the bloody word, so they should know how to spell it. was my first reaction on seeing the tread title.

  Interesting that they stole this made up word, they don't actually have anything much original about them, the WTBS do they ?
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  Ding

  Evidently, one of them is anointed and the other is not.
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  WontLeave

  They probably received several phone calls about it, but insisted everybody that called put it in a letter. Most couldn't be bothered and many realized the arrogance and were stumbled. A few wrote Bethel about the misspelling and received copy-and-paste form letters as replies that told them to have faith in the Society and stick closely to their local body of elders if they ever questioned anything in the literature. Seeing as they never listen to anyone from inside the organization and nobody outside the organization cares, the mistake lingered until spell check software started coming bundled with their publishing software.
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  NewYork44M

  I have the same problem with cancelled and canceled. It seems that both are correct.

  Perhaps the extra "p" is part of the new light.